Deluge

I may have found the sweet spot in the getting ready and on the road process. Up at 5:45, showered, dressed and out the door by 6:20. I was at my desk by 8:30, and I even walked a bit further/longer than usual, just to get some extra steps in.  I was in town, meeting friends at the office for an important event, and it is an earlier event than my office usually does the event, so they arrived around 10:30/10:45. Part of me thought about staying at S's house by the metro last night, another part of me even considered coming down and staying at the little hotel I stayed at during the conference. 

But I couldn't justify 200 bucks to just not have to schlep early. 

The cafe in our building has exquisitely excellent food, and this morning they were cheffing up pancakes with either chocolate chips and a sauce or blueberries with a compote. 

Damn, they looked good. But, I passed. The parfait that I bought was decent, and saved for a while so I'd have something in my belly and not have to wait until 1pm or so to eat. 

I had a really great day at the office. My boss is back from vacation and he's full of questions about things he got email on so he's peppering me with "did you handle this? is there an update on that? who was looped in on this one?" I also did a little bit of an overstep on something and he asked me to stand down on it, that technically it isn't my job, that the guy on parental leave was supposed to do it, and now his manager is the point person for taking care of the thing, and that they'll be discussing what is to be done in their 1:1 today. 

Okay. He doesn't necessarily know that the manager asked for my help on it, and hopefully he'll find that out and it's all good in the hood, as it were. 

Around 3pm I decided to hit the road, but I ran into one of my former colleagues from our Boston office who left and "Wandered the Wilderness" and ended up back with us. Thankfully. He's just the best. I absolutely love him. 

And we talked for 90 minutes. Shit. Okay. He had a 4:30 meeting he had to attend, and I really should have already been almost all the way home. 

I paid for it. Boy did I pay for it. 

The way that Waze has been sending me down in the morning was the way I wanted to go back, even if it was 10 minutes longer. I'm sick of I-270 and what a shit show the traffic is, so, 2 lane roads for me! At least, in the spring, summer, and fall. I doubt very much I'd go this way in the cold months. 

I got to my metro station, the red line was delayed due to switch problems. Nice. I do not miss that. So I walked back and forth on the platform and felt the fitbit vibrate. 5:15pm and your girl hit the 10k steps post already. Nice! 

I sat down on one of the benches and a lady asked me what I was doing, so I told her. She said to her friend, "See, she knows how to do it! When I'm home I get... 1000 steps a day! I just sit on my ass but coming to the metro, and walking to my office I'm hitting about 6k!" We congratulated ourselves and talked about strategy. She said it was too damn hot to walk on the platform today but she loved that I was doing it. 

The train finally came, and by the time we got to my stop, it was pouring out. Nice. Okay. Fun. Then, I couldn't remember what level I parked the car on. So I walked up to level 4/5, and then down to 3/4. and then down the stairs to the main level and up the ramp to 2/3. Oh there you are. Okay! Another decent walk but now it is about time to get home. 

I headed up the back roads way, and got north of the breweries and started heading to I-70, 16 miles... and it was a horror show. Trees down. Water on the roads. A couple times I questioned my sanity but if that little honda in front of me made it, my old Volvo will? Maybe? 

There is a gas station just south of 70 and I needed gas, so we filled up, and I went inside. I was pretty hungry at this point. It was almost 7 and I ate lunch at 1:15. They have fried chicken at this place, and I thought well heck, I'll get two pieces of chicken. How bad can it be.

They were actually amazing. For as late in the day as it was, I thought maybe they'd be all dry and stupid but no. Perfection. 

Onward. I waited until after 7 to get rolling back to the highway, I should have stayed there and done the 7pm steps. 

The highway was equally horrible. It was the kind of rain where if you're sitting still, it seems like no big deal, but you start moving and it is sheets and sheets of rain! How did this happen! 

Doug called twice, and I don't answer the phone while I'm driving, so, I kept going and by the time I made it 25 miles further west out of this vicious band of storms, it was better. In fact, the sun was peeking through at the horizon, blinding the fuck out of me. 

So rain blinded me for 2 hours and now the sun is going to try and kill me too. Great. Thanks Sky! you're the best! 

I got home and Doug had just got back with pizza. I ate one slice, and came up to bed. Exhausted.  Anyway. Maybe if there is another nice thing happening at my office I will stay with S. She always offers. I should take her up on that. 20 minute train commute or 3 hour fire and brimstone commute. Which to choose, which to choose. 

Oh - I wanted to show C my new sneakers. I bought 2 pairs. Go me. Still getting used to them but. Here's my feets!

Digits below.

digits
exercise: 11/12 hours,  missed 7pm by a few min. 3 measurable walks but my phone is all the way over there. 13k steps by bedtime. boom.

blood glucose: 

5:45am: 107
n/apm: n/a
9pm: 127

food & meds:

5:45am: jardiance, new meds
10am: yogurt parfait w/granola, strawberries, blueberries
1:15pm: pork loin, cauliflower, gravy, mashed potatoes; met+glip
6:45pm: 2 pieces of High's Fried Chicken. Met+glip, 2 peanut butter cups; coke zero.
8:15pm: slice of chicken alfredo pizza. Bite of calzone. it didn't taste good. 
no alcohol

The Early House Hours

I woke up at 6:20 and had to pee. 

But of course, I knew if I went downstairs there were two dogs who would be on to me, and would notice it is light out, which means brekkie and awakeness. Both of them ended up sleeping with Jess, even though Toffee started with us. She loves the guest room, and she had no problem inviting herself up to sleep with Jess and Dijon. 

I prepared for that inevitability, that they'd find it morning-time, and it was exactly as I thought. 

Toffee came out when she heard me come out of the bathroom, Dijon took a little while but when she heard the scoop hit the dog food it was on. 

They both danced and danced, I really should video them and how happy they are for brekkie! 

After they ate, they went outside. Instantly a bullet to the Walnut tree to chase the squirrels up. It is not even 6:30am and they are on patrol at top speed. Toffee is quiet but Dijon is a barker, and she read those squirrels to filth. I don't really care, considering how often the dogs next door wake me up at like 5 am. Fair game.

It was actually nice and cool out, so I got my coffee and sat out for a while, watched them play and enjoy the morning. 

They wanted to come in and that was disappointing. I honestly could have sat out there for quite a while. The wrasslin' and face fighting and tug-o-war began in earnest indoors.  

Busy workday for all of us. Geoff was at work and had to be there at 5am. Jess brought their computer gear down so they worked in the dining room. 

I got the makings for the potato salad going at around 11am. I hard boiled the eggs and did the potatoes, I harvested parsley and dill and tossed it in there. All of that was combined and chilling in the fridge. The bacon is last to add to the mix.  I really love making this potato salad, and I'd eat the entire thing if common sense didn't grab hold of me and stop me. Still. Oh my god yes. so good. I grilled bratwurst that Geoff had picked up, rather than wait for him to come up and do it. I was getting hungry! Normally he starts dinner at like 4, but with working super early, I think he comes home and naps. 

Jess and I sat outside on the porch for quite some time until it started to get buggy and bitey. Well after 8pm, almost 9. This is my favorite time of year. The fireflies were spectacular and Toffee and Dijon laid in the grass and just soaked in the scenery, being part of the scenery themselves. 

My tired ass managed to make it to 11pm, but I will be up early to go to the office tomorrow, again. Another special thing to go see happening, and I have to say as much as I love these special things, I wish they didn't happen as frequently. I've been to the office more times this year than all the years since 2020 I think. Gah! 

Anyway, here are some sleepy dogs who played and played a lot. Digits below! 

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours, Trot w/toffee into Treadmill run to continue: 17 min/1.17 mi; 11k+ by bedtime

blood glucose: 

6:30am: 108
4pm: 143
10:45pm: 97

food & meds:

6:30am: jardiance, new meds
11:30am: small bowl of mac&cheese w/bacon
12:30pm: met+glip
4:15pm: 2 slices of super seeded bread w/pb & a lil'bit of blackberry jam
6:30pm: 2 bratwurst, cup of potato salad w/bacon/egg the way I make it
white wine w/polar seltzers
8:45pm: new meds, met+glip (new meds should have been closer to 5pm but I forgot)

The visit of Misty John and the Kid

Jess and Dijon got here around 6 something. I had taken myself out for sneaker shopping and a pedicure. Success on both fronts. 

Geoff made some sort of beef enchilada (sp?) dish and we all chowed down on it. I am kind of glad we didn't have more wine in the house, that kept me from just ... over enjoying. 

The dogs are outrageous. Toffee kind of attacked Dijon when she came in the house, I should have had Jess wait on the porch and we should have gotten Toffee harnessed up for a team walk, and then gone straight into the backyard. Oops. No harm, no foul, and everyone went out back and had a fun time. 

They literally played non-stop until 10pm, and crashed. Tomorrow, the chaos will begin again!

Here's a dog, enjoying porch life even if she is a little blurry. Digits below! 

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours, Short treadmill trot, 15 min/1.07 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9:45am: 165
5pm: 118
10:30pm: 88

food & meds:

9:45am: jardiance, new meds
2:45pm: 4 little cracker peanut butter sandwiches, met+glip
5pm: new meds
6:30pm: small bowl of enchiladas, one glass of vinho verde

The Right Amount of Drunkening Fluids

Today is 2 weeks since I started the new meds, and technically I'm down 4 pounds, well. As long as I've pooped? Pooping is the important part. I mean, I've shared WAYYYYYYY too much info here but the new meds constipate me a bit? and. Well. Yeah. Once I go, there is a noticeable difference in pounds. 

Anyway. 

Today I started what she prescribed for one week in: do the meds in the morning for one week, and then add in the 2nd dose. But. I waited an additional week.  With her guidance. 

We're moving forward. 

Morning and evening doses, let's see how things go. Wish me luck. 

Today Doug said he was not feeling well. We have a bunch of stuff we need to do before Jess gets here tomorrow, but he was in the guest room hogging up space. I didn't want to vacuum, so I did a bunch of other tasks. 

He did say at about 1 that he wanted for us to go out and get peaches, so we went to the farm that we literally have struck out at so many times. Not open on Sunday (duly noted), on a Saturday - closed because they had zero things to sell because the April Frost fucked up their everything. 

Today, they were open. The peaches and nectarines were so fucking expensive, I even gasped a bit when I saw the prices. But we bought some, to support. They've had a shitty year. 

And the fruit was and is lovely. 

Home, and I took a nap. I normally don't nap but the second dose of the medication was making me sleepy. 

Geoff was headed to a concert in Baltimore tonight. I looked up the headliner, the band he is actually going to see, oh my god. they go on at 10:50pm. 

Jesus. 

I'm such a fan of 7pm shows, where the headliner comes on at 8 or 8:30pm. And at 10:50pm I can be sleeping. 

So I am slightly anxious about him coming home. late. It is a long trip from Baltimore, 90 minutes. So he won't be home until late, and I'm trying not to be my mom. Be Careful... be careful.

Anyway. I was actually napping when he left, I heard him talk with Doug and heard the door close. So I didn't get to do "be careful," and I don't do that. I say things like "hey I hope you have a GREAT time!" and in my heart I pray be careful. 

He is such a good guy, I know he'll be fine. He knows not to drink too much or at all. If he is there with another person and that person is driving (cough cough he never is) He knows to not booze it up. He just wants a night of loud crazy dark metal and noise. So happy for him to be able to go and enjoy. 

I asked Doug what he wanted to do for diner, if he wanted to just eat a mess of leftovers. 

"Nah, that sounds like no fun. Let's go out." 

Oh. I did not expect that. Okay. 

We got clothes on and he said he wanted to go to this place in town, but I'd never heard of it. And when I googled it, that wasn't it. 

Turns out the place sold in June. And rebranded under a new name. But okay. Let's go. 

We got there and a band was setting up, and holy shit they were loud. Sound check, this loud? no. I'm not staying. The bartender said they didn't start until 8pm, and I said "Oh okay it is 6, we 'll be gone before they start." 

The sound check went on and on, and it was almost enough for me to look at Doug and say "I'm walking home, bye." 

There was a little lady at the end of the bar next to Doug, her name was Debbie, and she started chewing Doug's ear. She's there every night. She said "yeah, this band is great but they are the loudest band." 

No joke, Debbie. 

A lady sat next to me, and she was younger than me and very pretty. Her name is Shannon. I asked her if this place used to have a different name and then changed. She said yeah! The owner wanted to sell, and one of the staff bought it, did a deep clean refurbish and rebrand. But all the regulars still show up, and things are going great. 

Unlike my mom's "familiar" which changed hands an then sucked ass totally. It seems everyone is happy with this new arrangement.  

We had a good dinner, a couple beers and yes, we left before the band really started their noise. 

When we got home, I was the right amount of alcohol-infused and happy. So I baked cookies. I've been threatening to bake oatmeal cookies for days. So I did it. I didn't want to drink more beer, so I got the Kahlua out and finished off the milk. Will regret that in the morning. But we have a little half and half to get me awake alert and alive with my coffee. 

The cookies came out amazing. 

Digits below the very good advice from the wall at the bar.

digits
exercise: 11/12 hours, slept through 4pm with a nap.  Treadmill, 20 min, 10k+ steps by bedtime 

blood glucose: 

8:00am: 150
5pm: 95
10:30pm: 180

food & meds:

8:00am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: met+glip; english muffin w/pb and j *full sugar but small bits
6:30pm: 2 smash burger patties w/cheese, no bun, 3 beers; french fries
5:30pm: new meds (2nd dose levels, 2nd week)
7:45pm: met+glip
8pm: baked cookies - so some cookie dough for taste
9:30pm: oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and Kahlua & milk cocktail(s)

Magnets and Smoke

Yesterday I published a post that is kind of a stand alone entry. Not a blog entry really but. Fiction. This entry was meant to be the Thursday normal entry but, I fell asleep and forgot to write. So you get a twofer Friday. 

When I chatted with M the other day, we talked about magnets and I told her about my refrigerator. I took some pictures for her and she was highly entertained. I think I'll get her some magnets for her collection. 

Yesterday I was up at 6am and took it easy in the morning but hit the treadmill at 8. Getting that out of the way is kind of a great thing. I was at 10k before 9pm. Broke 11 on the way to bed. I am usually pleased if I get to 2k by noon! 

I should do that more often but I am not a morning person. So not a morning person. 

Everyone has been really freaking out about the air quality, thanks to the Canadian wildfires. Our AQI (Air Quality Index) is 238 today which is super shitty. Like, far over and above the usual "eh, this is bad" levels. 

This morning, Doug and I both sat out on the patio (gasp!) and felt like yeah, it's hazy but it isn't ... that bad? He went inside and I did some work but after about an hour I was feeling it in my eyes. Okay, bad air, you win. You win. 

We are supposed to get some big storms tomorrow, which maybe will help out but nothing will help until Canada stops being on fire. Poor Canada. I feel for you. I love you very much. I wish you weren't on fire. 

Also, Colorado. 

People in the East have little or no concept about these things until they happen. I was woefully disappointed in ALL of the news coverage because all it did was bitch about our air here. There was no reporting on how people in Canada are doing. I went and found stories about entire neighborhoods burning down, and a horse farm losing their horses and everything because there was no way on earth they could evacuate all the horses. Terrible. 

I think my entry yesterday is also wrapped up in my feelings about how we see situations. Are we self-centered/only regionally focused or can we branch out our awareness and think "yeah this sucks but ... wow over there look at that shit." 

Flip the empathy switch to on. 

Geoff did take Toffee for a walk, which she needed because she is crazy full of energy. I told him not to take her long, or far, for her sake and for his. I showed him the map. He got the message. 

It could be worse. I could be in Pittsburgh. 

I'm happy to stay inside. I did go out and water the garden last night while talking to Linda. That seems to be my outdoor activity lately. And I'm alright with that. I want to go out later and harvest some stuff from the garden, so I'll be doing that and we'll have all our wee tomatoes and maybe some squash ready! 

Jess is coming this weekend and I can't wait. I love when Jess visits, and I hope that we have a lot of fun with dogs and each other! Hopefully the air will clear up. 

Lin and I chatted and I walked on the treadmill while we did that so I got extra time. Since it is so gross out, it was nice to have some more walkies and chat. 

Here are the magnets! And the Thursday and Friday digits are below!

Thursday digits
exercise: 12/12 hours Treadmill, early morning! 30 min/2.09 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

6am: 118
3:15pm: 133
10:30pm: 131

food & meds:

6am: jardiance, new meds
11am: chicken salad (about 1.5 cups) no bread
1pm: met+glip; big handful of candied mixed nuts 
3:15pm: last piece of banana bread
5:15pm: slice of sourdough toast
6:30pm: nachos; red wine+diet ginger ale; met+glip
7pm: met+glip

Friday digits
exercise: 12/12 hours Treadmill run, 20 min/1.44 mi (tired, hot); walking treadmill w/linda on phone, 30 min/1.3 mi; 11k steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:30am: 121
4:30pm: 99
11pm: 110

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance, new meds
2pm: chicken thigh w/ guac. met+glip
4:45pm: 2 small sourdough slices w/butter, toasted
6:30pm: Creamy cheesy pasta w/ broccoli, shrooms, chicken; vinho verde on ice
7:30pm: met+glip

There but for the grace of God

I wrote this based on a discussion with someone about how pissed they are about the Canadian wildfire smoke blanketing the Eastern Seaboard. It isn't as bad in the DC area as what I've seen in New England. 

And it also made me think, crap. It certainly is an inconvenience but all my life could be burned down in Canada. And that would extra suck. I pointed this out to the other person and he was none too kind back at me. I think he lacks an empathy gene anywhere in his body. 

I haven't written a thing like this in a long time. 

How many times have you (or I) been stuck in traffic. Nothing is moving, or it is at a very basic crawl. Progress by inches is hard fought. You're not really late for a thing, you don't have a tub of ice cream in the groceries in the way back but you just want to get the hell home. It isn't the usual time for traffic to be this gianormously sucky. But it is. 

You curse under your breath or maybe with your full voice. You don't let that guy in the BMW in after he flew down the breakdown lane. "That guy," you say, "Fuck that guy." 

Eye contact, that's what you want. You want him to see your massive bitch face as you cling to the bumper of the Dodge van in front of you, only his windows are fiercely tinted. Maybe you can't see him but you make sure he can see you, buddy. 

Eventually, you approach the area where the hold up is. There are emergency vehicles everywhere, Fire trucks, Ambulances, Cops. A helicopter is landing. 

Jesus, a helicopter? Oh no. 

One lane of traffic is getting by on the very far right side of the highway. A couple cops are trying to get the four lanes to three, down to two, and down to that one. The cop glares at the BMW guy in the breakdown lane, he's got his number and if he could he would write that up. You, and that cop, you get it. 

As the helicopter comes down, no one gets to go forward. They wait for the whirlybird to be on the terra firma, and then sweeping arms they send cars up the highway. Everyone spreads to the far left so they can slam on the accelerator and get the fuck out of there. 

You stay in the second lane from the right, you're feeling big things. 

Jesus, a helicopter? What the hell must be going on for those poor people. 

You saw three cars, one upside down in the median, in the wildflowers that are chaos gardened into the space each year and there are signs telling the mowers not to mow this down. It is for the pollinators, and for beautification. 

Three cars means at least three drivers, three humans, maybe kids, maybe friends, maybe a dog. The carnage of the speed machines is everywhere:  the chrome bent all to hell; broken glass and plastic; and all sorts of liquids from inside the vehicles. 

The next exit is yours, which is why this location was infuriating to you. But now you know that could be your neighbor. Do you recognize that blue Honda Fit in the wreck? Is that the guy that lives two blocks over? He's got kids. You've seen them. 

Suddenly your anger about the traffic jam and the time "wasted" has turned to sober realization, and deep empathy. You were so mad, so enraged. But there are people who are probably dead or dying, or in a world of hurt and facing a monstrously horrible recovery. Maybe they'll never be the same again after today. 

Home. Grab the backpack off the back seat and the 6 pack of beer you stopped to get at that store where the prices are just right, even if he is a little out of the way. By now the beer is warm but you pop a top off as you drop your keys into the basket on the kitchen counter. The dog welcomes you enthusiastically, the way she always does. 

Now is when you cry. 

The dog is what gets you. 

Maybe someone's dog is going to be waiting for their best friend. And their best friend isn't going to be coming home. 

You open the back door and let her out, you stand there with your warm beer and watch her take that big dump that she takes because she's waited all day for this. Then she runs and plays, brings you the backyard toy to throw. Halfheartedly, you do. 

And you cry more.

It crosses your mind that you were so angry, so pissed off, and yet what for. Why? Would it be different if the traffic was caused by one of those super old trees that you think could fall down any day now? Or if it was a road crew getting ready for night work so they've shut down three of the four lanes with cones and flashing lights? They'll be out there all night while you're home watching BritBox comedies and eating that left over Thai food from last weekend. 

This is different, because lives are possibly lost, but. No. It is the same. It's not a good reason to be furious. It's just traffic sometimes and you have no control over that so getting worked up and aggressive is useless, futile. An absolute waste of your energy. 

You know your brain, it isn't as easy as just saying "Oh look at this horrible situation and think it could be worse! It could be raining!" But you know your minor frustration is actually someone's worst day ever. And you need to learn to activate that empathy gene once in a while, in advance. Not when you roll up on a car wreck. 

The dog is tired and now she wants to eat so you head on in. You call your girlfriend. 

You call your mom.

Sun Tea

When you were a kid, did you make sun tea? Get a glass pitcher and dump a mess of tea bags in it, cover up the pitcher and stick it out in the sun? Then drink your bounty? 

We have a couple gallon glass jugs from a local creamery, and one of them is always a perpetual zero sugar drink dust lemonade or peach lemonade or whatever mix. The other sits in the dining room, waiting to be swapped into duty while its brother goes through the dishwasher. 

Doug had suggested we make some sun tea during the giant heat wave around July 4th weekend and I never got around to it. Today, my internet connection was constantly failing and kicking me offline. I had the worst "I want to punch technology in the face" kind of rage, so I walked away and got 8 tea bags out and cut a bunch of peppermint out of our pot, and went for it. 

I set the glass container out in the sunniest, hottiest part of the patio, and completely forgot about it. Around 9pm, Doug asked how it came out. 

Well. 

I went out and got it, and it was delightful. Absolutely wonderful. Strong, minty, refreshing. Aaaaah. 

If tomorrow my internet is shitty, first, I'm calling the provider. Then, I'm going to a local bookstore/coffeeshop to try and work. I have no morning meetings, so my plan is up early, see how things go, have a hissy fit, and then go somewhere else and see if it is any better. 

Doug and Geoff both are telling me they don't have problems. 

And right now, after 10pm, everything is working well. I've not been kicked off even once. The hell? 

I do not think it is too many of us on one service, we've been here since September, and have not had any issues until today. But honestly, I can't work like this. It sucks. 

Rage. 

Geoff is working tomorrow, he has to be at some store at 6am and opted not to go in the van with the crew, but drive himself. Doug pointed out that you get paid for travel time to and from when you are with the team but not when you drive yourself. So I am wondering why he wants to drive? Maybe he isn't getting along with someone on the team? It's only been a week or so since he started this job, so I hope he's okay. He doesn't like to talk about conflict. Fold a little napkin for him to sit at a table in your heart and keep him in your thoughts. He has about 6 weeks until school starts. I just want it to go well, ya know?

Digits below my glorious before and after Sun Tea photos. 

exercise: 12/12 hours Treadmill, 30 min/2.07 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:30am: 127
4:15pm: 173
10:30pm: 141

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: 6 little round cracker pb sandwiches; met+glip
2pm: slab of banana bread
6:30pm: some sort of chicken with bleu cheese and caramelized onions quesadilla thing by geoff
7:30pm: met+glip; small bowl of mixed nuts; red wine (2 glasses w/ice) 

Yes I am alive!

Took a bloggy break for a couple days. Sunday was a blur. I ran 5k on the treadmill on Sunday so that's good. Doug watered the garden, and that was lovely to see happen. 

Yesterday I went to the office, I got a crappy night's sleep on Sunday so it was a chore getting up and out the door. I was up at 5, showered, dressed and ready. I needed to get back in the bathroom, but Geoff was getting ready for work. So. I laid down on the bed in the guest room with the dog, and fell fully asleep. Doug came down at 8am and said "did you change your mind about going to the office?"

Uh, nope. 

Made it out the door in 20 minutes, proud of myself. But also disappointed in myself because I knew it was going to take forever to get to the office. And it did. 

I arrived at 10:30, so a full solid 2 hours of transport is a regular expectation. What's cool is the Waze didn't send me the usual path, it sent me down a 2 lane road off I-70, straight down south to the metro. I loved it. On the way home, I was sorely tempted to stop at the Brookville Beer Farm and get some take-away beer but I really wanted to get home. Waze tried to take me back the "usual" way, up 270, but it would be the same amount of time to go the long way, the 2 lane road way. I kind of think I'm doing this from now on. Screw the highway. 

I've been trying to have time to chat with my friend S about our Maine trip, and she lives so close to the metro where I parked my car. I should have gone over to visit but I knew I'd be there forever. I think I want to use her place as a crash pad next Monday because there's another good reason to go into the office next Tuesday, and it's nice to have the relaxation of not driving 2 hours, trying to work, and driving back.

When I got home last night, I was straight up exhausted. It was after 7:30, dinner was cold but easily reheated. I ate, I crashed. Done. It felt so good to sleep. S texted me at 9:45 and I heard it ping but saved it for today to reply to. 

I don't want her to think I hate her, I just need to like, schedule chat time and not be distracted by dishes or treadmill, or vegging out in front of the TV, or falling asleep. She's a night owl, I could call her at 10, 11, and she'd be awake and ready to chat but wow. I'm not that person anymore. If I'm up past 11, it's a surprise. 

Anyway. 

Today was a great day. Doug had to go to the office, and he didn't get home until after 6. We talked about how very glad we are that we don't have to do this often.

I baked a banana bread, which brought him great joy. "I saw those bananas on the counter," he said, "I hoped this would happen."

And it was an exceptionally good banana bread!

We had a meeting with a client, a successful site launch. I made a joke last week in our check in that we should all wear funny hats, and I showed up without a funny hat. So I had to grab my Guster rainbow hat quickly to jump in. 

Sometimes I have a client who is just a joy to work with, and these folks were indeed joyful. Made for the best time ever. I want to share the screenshot of our zoom call, but. everyone's name is on their screens so, not gonna do that. 

I was working a little bit around 8 and M called, (Jess' bestie) we hadn't chatted in forever, not since a small check-in after her wedding. We ended up talking for two hours. I like when that happens. Anyway. 

Hey it actually IS 11, and I'm still up? Going to bed. 

Skimping on the Sunday and Monday Digits. but filling in what I remember. I do remember lunch at the office on Monday was so good. I miss going into the office. 

Sometimes.  

digits

exercise: Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday 12/12 hours each day.
Treadmill on Sunday for 3.2 mi/42 minutes; no treadmill Monday but a measured walk 9 min/.5 mi in DC. Tuesday, Treadmill 25 min, 1.75 mi. 
12k+ Sunday
10k+ Monday
11k+ Tuesday

blood glucose: 

Monday 5am: 84
Monday 4pm: 151
Monday night, 10pm: 118

7:45am: 97
5pm: 171
11pm: 119

food & meds:

7:45am: jardiance, new meds
10am: last donut
2pm: slab of banana bread
2:30pm: chicken salad; met+glip
6pm: bowl of fetuccini (not a lot) with meat sauce (a lot); red wine (not a lot, and with ice cubes)
7pm: met+glip

More Fun Tomorrow

I went to bed on the rather late side of things last night (after midnight, which is super late for me...). I could not fall asleep for the life of me. Struggled! I think it was about 3:30 and my still wide awake ass schlepped down to the bathroom and stayed down in the guest room. Decided on a podcast to listen to, and after another hour, fell asleep. I woke up to part 2 of the tale of the Amityville Horror, which I knew most of the story, having grown up not too far away, but it is still always fascinating to listen to. 

After I did manage to fall asleep, I slept in a bit, not too horribly, but still when you're aiming for 10k steps a day and you pretty much miss the first two hours of the day which can be close to 1000 steps, that'll hobble ya. Toffee had found me, and we were deep in snuggle. No hurry to get up. No hurry at all.

There were helpdesk things to do. I was waiting for an email from a third party provider for some content and they obviously honor the weekend and do not work on Saturdays. Bless them. My colleague assigned a bunch of tickets to me, so them being fresh and new and looking at me - I gave replies and took care of some "here's how you need to do it going forward" kinds of things. The day was a blur.

I forced myself to get on the treadmill when Doug went up to nap. I was so sorely tempted. but figured a nap would whack tonight's attempts at sleep right in the kneecaps. Treadmill, I see you. But I'm not making a big effort. I jogwalked, no real running there. Didn't even break 2 miles in a half hour. That's okay though - I did it. I made up for shortcomings by taking Toffee around the block. That's always a good 1500+ steps. And she loves it.

Geoff made French bread pizza for dinner, and while delicious, too much in the carbs universe. But. Delicious. I should have balanced that out with a protein shake or something but I felt super full, semi-bloated, and not interested in putting more stuff in my body. 

A thing I regret not going out today for any fun. I had plans in my head. There is there is a guy here in town who I met through the 100 mile challenge. He plays acoustic guitar and sings, and he had a gig right over at the brewery by my house. 6 to 8pm. And I didn't get my ass out the door. I was on the treadmill at 7. I was eating food at 7. I was feeling like a blob at 8. 

Next time Logan. Next time. 

After Toffee and I got back, I was still about 1000 steps short of the 10k. I told myself, eh. Close enough? But no, it is 9pm. You can do this. Do it. So Toffee and I came upstairs. She gets the zoomies at night, which is fun, and we had a ton of fun. I ran back and forth and threw the carcasses of a couple of her former stuffies, and she loves to grab them and throw them around. Easy 1000 steps. 

No picture today, but tomorrow. Tomorrow! We have more fun tomorrow!!!! 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  took it very easy today. very tired. Took the treadmill, 30 min/1.86 mi. Took a short toffee walk before some weather, 12 min/.43 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9:45am: 100
4pm: 140
10pm: 195

food & meds:

9:45am: jardiance, new meds
10am: oikos 000 yogurt w/ crushed up oats & honey granola bar
11:30am: small bowl of mac & cheese
1pm: met+glip
4:15: ramekin of mixed nuts
7pm: 2 pieces of french bread pizza w/ shrooms and red/orange peppers (meatless)
7:30pm: met+glip
No alcohol

A matter of taste

Geoff went to Target to get the dry goods and sundry things, and he brought back some sort of ring dings or ding dong kind of things. 

I got home from a doctor's appointment (blood draw, and knee X-ray) and they were in the cabinet so I figured ,,, eh. My blood sugar read "normal"ish for me, I'm hungry, those are there. 

It is kind of funny, but they don't taste right. And I know I sound like some sort of Andy Rooney old fart type of person (and if you are reading this and do not know who Andy Rooney is, bless you, you sweet sweet summer child) but really. 

They just taste like, meh. The chocolate is waxy, the cakey part isn't soft and moist, and the creamy filling leaves a lot to be desired. When I was a youth, I could eat a box of these tasty chocolate hockey pucks in a sitting. They came wrapped in a tin foil, which I'd take, and flatten out, and stack more tin foil wrappings on each other after chowing down and chowing down, and chowing down some more. Then I'd make a big ball of the tin foil, and squish it. I'd sometimes bite down on it (yeah, I was a fuckin' weirdo kid, I know) and it would hurt my teeth. Nice. 

Anyway. I honestly don't ever need to have another one of these. If I can have sugar/carbs from a lovely piece of artisanal bread, or a fresh peach, yeah. That's the way to go.

Jess called me tonight just before 10, so I took them for a walk, while they also walked their dog. Two hours later.... time for bed. 

But hey, the blood sugar is nice and low tonight, even with that snacky cake. Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 30min/2.04 mi; walk and talk w/Jess, 30 min/ 1.38 mi; 13k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9:45am: 140
5pm: 115
11:30pm: 85

food & meds:

9:45am: jardiance, new meds
12:30: bowl of chicken salad made with the left over peruvian chicken Geoff made, cream cheese, mayo
1:45pm: met+glip
5:15: hostess snacky cake
7pm: marinaded steak w/ guac and shredded cheese; white wine
8:30pm: met+glip 

A Little High

I woke pretty early for my doctor's appointment and had a good chat about all the things. The one thing I'm concerned about is the higher than regular or recent blood sugars. I've worked so hard y'all. Tiny cheats here and there, yeah. Cookie baking. Mac & Cheese but always extra protein. Always. And my blood sugar has been ... decent. 

My doctor said the new meds should also be lowering my blood sugar, if anything. But this week has been a little anxiety ridden. 

I told her that next week I'm going to send her the digits from the bottom of these pages, the digits I've diligently kept. And see what she has to say. 

Tomorrow she wants me to go get my bloodwork done, check the A1c (and I have to get my PT/INR anyway). So I'll dip out of work at 3, run the 30 miles over to the facility to get things done. 

I also talked to her about my knee pain. My right knee has been hurting like heck, even with stretching, and even with not running at all for over a week, just walking. In the past I've gotten cortisone shots, and the last one was 2022. I'm eligible for another one.  I need an X-ray first and then an ortho consult.

Me: I signed up for a 5k, literally one month from tomorrow.
Her: Well! We want you to do that! So let's help you feel better and you can train and win! 

Lady, I'm so not going to "win" anything, I just want to complete and finish. And I hope they have some adorable commemorative swag for us. Because honestly, that's all I want. Swag. 

We had a giant thunderstorm this afternoon. I was on a conference call with my work son, and I thought at one point I may have to shut my computer down because we'd lose power and internet. It was intense. The dog and the Doug were going bonkers. He had her all fired up about it, and they went on the porch and she NOPE Nope nope noped right back into the house. I was trying to talk and be present, but there was too much fun happening! 

We didn't lose power and the storm was over by the time I was done. The client we're working with is wonderful and hilarious, and it was just the kind of thing that warmed my heart to the bottom of my feet. 

That's about it. Oh - my friend here in town sent me this hilarious picture of two ads on a news site, and she said "I think I'm losing my mind - I wondered, why is that woman's body so small?" 

She thought I'd like it, and I do. 

Hope you like it too. 

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/2 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

7:45am: 130
5pm: 136
10:30pm: 180 

food & meds:

7:45am: jardiance, new meds
10:30am: last slice of sourdough bread, toasted
11:45am: small bowl of mac & cheese and leftover cheesesteak fixings (onions, peppers, mushrooms) 
12:45pm: met+glip
2:45pm: 6 m&ms (last in the bag, cleaning the pantry)
5pm: handful of mixed nuts
6:15pm: bowl of tortellini w/marinara sauce, meatless
7:15pm: met+glip 
white wine

It Depends

One of my co-workers and his wife welcomed a new baby yesterday. The past couple of weeks have been incredibly challenging because he works on a quarterly thing that dovetails to my project, and his thing is not a fun thing, but it is a legal thing. And wooof. Whoa. And the deadline for our clients to submit records for this quarterly thing was yesterday. Perfect timing, little baby. 

His boss (a new boss to him due to a department reorganization,  but a coworker we've all had for over a year) is doing his job now and we've been ramping up to this. But that doesn't mean we're ready for him to be completely unreachable. A lot of things that the original guy, the m has complained about for years are being exposed, and now his new boss is in a position to hopefully fix the fuck out of processes and situations that have just been allowed to happen for years and years. 

Watching him in meetings, he's a great guy and a lot of fun, but his tolerance for people's bullshit answers is incredibly low. The "Well, it depends on what the xyz thing is," answers make his head explode.

"Okay, it depends. It depends on what? Tell me the dependencies. Are there 3? 6? 12? Why are there dependencies? What can we do to cut down on these dependencies that end up impacting almost a whole population of things? And when can we do it by?"

It is a thing of beauty to behold, and I love watching him just go at it. 

We're all on the same team here, there are three departments involved, but we're all on one team. 

I had my 1:1 with my manager today and he's going on vacation Friday afternoon for two whole weeks. I feel like we have pretty much turned the corner on the chaos, but I dread not having him available.  

We discussed how I've always wanted to know how this project thing worked, and I've run into obfuscations from the other teams, usually director level, "why do you need to know that?" is a popular response to me asking something. 

Um. Because I need to put into words to the client why this isn't going to happen, or, why they have to do something some way. So I need to understand it. 

I let my manager know that 2 people in particular have been really huge road blocks to me, and he laughed and said "Oh, I know. I have heard that before!"  

Part of me thinks this is great that my co-worker and Mrs. Co-worker are off having their baby and parental leave time, because I know everything that he has had to struggle with every quarter will hopefully now be thrust into the spotlight, by his boss, and we'll get some sort of massive restructuring of the process for him.

"Maybe when he comes back, his job will be so massively different and better, and wonderful..." I said to my manager, and he said he hopes so too. 

It's so hard to try to get things done sometimes, when people don't want to work with you to fix a thing that is so obviously messy. 

Sigh. 

I had a meeting with a client today. He and another client share a first name, and in my little brain, I thought I was meeting with Guy #1 when really it was Guy #2. 

When I sent the meeting invite out, I had the wrong company name on it, but Guy #2 didn't call me out on it. "I saw that," he said, "I know that other guy. He's great. Sorry you're meeting with me and not him!" 

It was a good chat. Good meeting. Very fun. 

One of the things I really love about my job is the meetings with these clients. I love teaching them how to use things. I love seeing them click and get it. I love helping them realize they've been doing something wrong for so long that now... it's a miracle, this is how to do it and it is changing my life. 

I finished up, made some roasted potatoes to go with Geoff's dinner (some sort of marinade for chicken that he found in a cookbook, like he does), and we had a nice dinner. I needed 1500 steps to get to 10k, so I figured at 8ish I would take Toffee for a walk around the block. 

We had a short walk because there were cats out there. And she cannot resist trying to catch cats. 

So I brought her disappointed disobedient ass home. Finished up my steps in the house. 

I wanted to share this picture yesterday and forgot. We have some lettuce! I've never tried to grow lettuce. 

 I do have to say I'm happy to see that they are coming up, but, if I had to feed my family over the winter nothing we're growing would be helpful, so we just plan on enjoying what we have while we have it. 

Not sure why no one is in the middle though. Weird. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 25 min treadmill, 1.6 mi. cut it short for dinner; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: *see note below

9:30am: 145
4:15pm: 159
10:30pm: 144 

food & meds:

9:30am: jardiance, new meds
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb & low sugar j
2pm: met+glip
7pm: grilled chicken breast w/some little tiny roasted potatoes and a salad
8pm: met+glip

*side effects of new medication: "May impact blood sugar." I am going to be talking to the doctor about this because nothing I'm doing/eating would cause the readings to be as high as they are today/yesterday. hmmmmmmm

An early start

This morning, Doug had a very early conference call at 7, and had to be on camera. As a result, I had to be out of bed. 

It is cute when a pet is sleeping behind you, not so much when your spouse is splayed out in their panties and a Guster T-shirt they've owned since 2005. 

I woke up at 5:30 organically, went down to pee and turned on the coffee pot. Doug got up at 6:30 and I informed him the coffee was on and ready for him. He was thankful. Toffee and I cuddled for another 20 minutes until I finally roused myself out of bed, put on proper bottoms, and headed downstairs. 

Not wanting to actually start working, for the love of God, no... I loaded the dishwasher. As many know, normally, I hate dishes in the sink overnight but last night wasn't an option. Then, I opted to check out the world outside. Too humid to sit out and drink coffee but finally a decent temperature. 

For the past several days, I've set the Monstera out there to soak up the heat and humidity, and I think it loves it. A few nights I've left her out there, it's been hot enough so I haven't been worried. 

I noticed the leaves are making some moisture of their own lately. Pretty little drops that I couldn't resist taking pictures of. 

The morning was misty, not rainy, not drizzling, just kind of damp in the air. I knew I needed to stake the tomatoes up, so I figured eh... right now's as good a time as any so I got my sticks and twine and some scissors out. 

I took care of the tomatoes, which were somewhat beaten down a bit from the wind over the weekend. Everyone looks fine and growing nicely. We surveyed the other plants, everything is doing nicely. 

Farmer Chris, proud.

Toffee and I went inside as the misty turned more dripply. 

I caught a shower, and was ready for working at my usual time. Perfection! 

Kind of interesting to get up early and get a few things done for a change instead of slugging around exhausted and sleepy. 

It was a busy day, and I had was thinking of going to this fun event in downtown with a July 4th time capsule opening but then didn't feel like going out now that it was for real raining. My friend in town said they set up a new one to open in 50 years. She put things in specifically for her son, and hopes he'll be there to get them.

How sweet! 

I ended my very busy workday with some trash talking with my work son, he had some need to trash talk and I'm always here for it. Geoff started making dinner and I hit the treadmill. Thought about going all the way to 5k but got about 2/3-ish of the way there and said "meh." 

But I got to watch my "workout partner" as she watched the world. We put her dog bed there, and she likes to look at things. A couple days ago an orange cat came and sat down and stared at her! She lost her shit. I would too. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/2 mi. 10k+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 112
4:15pm: 127
10pm: 190 

food & meds:

7am: jardiance, new meds
10am: bowl of greek yogurt w/a sliced up peach and some blueberries, a lil'sprinkle of splenda; met+glip
2pm: english muffin w/pb
6pm: some rigatoni dish by Geoff (pancetta, onions, mushrooms?) ; 2 cookies from Aldi
7:30pm: met+glip
diet ginger ale
no alcohol

Verification and Certificates

When we lived in Massachusetts, Geoff had a job with a company that did inventory in stores. It was an overnight job, and he had to travel with a team, stay at a hotel, get up before 5am, be in the lobby, and go to different stores. They had these things that looked like Star Trek guns and they'd count stuff. 

He had many adventures. 

Somehow, either they reached out to him or he reached out to them and they have work here in this area of the world so he is going to work for them. I told him this is great, I do not have a problem with this, since he feels like he needs to have a job if he is going to apply for anything like an apartment or a credit card. He's still spinning his wheels on a credit card and having a credit history and all that. 

Anyway,  he says to me, "I have a form online that has to be completed to prove my citizenship and stuff, so I need someone to be a witness for it."

Okay. I can do that I guess. Ask them if they'll take me? He did and they said yes. 

It was the I-9 form that we all need to complete for jobs and usually an HR person would do that for you. I was surprised they didn't ask for pictures of the items, but, whatever. I filled it out for him. A passport (item from column A) or 2 items from column B so a birth certificate and driver's license .

And the thing is, I knew exactly where his birth certificate was. I keep all the important identification documents all in the same place, together. Car titles, title to the house, all 4 birth certificates, I have a copy of my dad's death certificate, I think. So mission accomplished. 

I am not sure though, why do I have 10 copies of my marriage certificate? How'd that happen? Weird. 

Anyway, he's all set, verified, available for work whenever they tell him to show up. As long as it isn't tomorrow or Wednesday. Our car is going in the shop, and we'll need this car to get to and fro the mechanic. 

Today is my buddy Aaron's birthday. I think he is 51. I lose track of how old people are sometimes. I'm thinking of all the crazy crazy July 4th and Aaron Birthday fun we had back in the day. I miss him. Anyway. Here's a picture of Aaron and Geoff from the long ago times. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 20 min. Dinner was ready and I was hungry so I stopped. 20 min/1.39 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:15am: 130
4:30pm: 116
10:30pm: 125

food & meds:

8:15am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: pb& low sugar j on 647 white bread; met+glip
2:45pm: slices of white cheddar on 6 herbed crackers
6:30pm: cheesesteak filling (meat, cheese, onions, mushrooms) a few spicy french fries
7pm: met+glip
no alcohol 

July 4 weekend wrap up

Saturday and Sunday entry

After over a year on the Phentermine and approximately 10 lbs lost overall, my doctor and I changed it up and she prescribed a combo of a couple things. This is new to me. I have instructions on how to take them both for a week, then increase a week later, and a week after that, weighing myself to see if I lose anything during the first three weeks. If I do, I just keep going. 

One of the medications has a note saying "may cause sleepiness." Not ... drowsiness like most medications have a warning. 

Will keep an eye on that. 

Saturday was hot again, and my plants are bearing the brunt of that. Geoff went to the market quickly and got grillables for us for dinner, and he took care of cooking right before the weather did things. 

We had some storms blow in and they caused a lot of damage nearby, but our town was north of it. 

And it all cleared out so the neighborhood could do its thing. 

Local Dads (I can only assume it wasn't local moms) were shooting off fireworks all around us. Behind us, things that sounded like bombs but we couldn't see any sort of sky display. Across the road by a couple blocks and up at the end of our street, lots of sky action. We stood out and watched the happenings. 

Compared to the relative lack of activity in the neighborhood on the third while the Official Town show was happening a few blocks away, these folks went at it. 

Doug said our end of the block was too quiet, he felt like he was letting America down. I told him he was definitely not letting America down.

We stayed up late to watch the TV fireworks and Doug found a channel that was moving from city to city. Boston's show was really amazing, Chicago was kind of dull (at one point Doug said "you can shoot up more than one at a time, Chicago, come ON).  Nashville really blew everyone away (not literally). Boston had drones and then fireworks, Nashville's had both at the same time. Impressive. And it looked like a really cool place to go watch them. Note to self for a future trip...??

I wonder if we'll get to a point culturally where fireworks won't actually be a thing but drones just will. I guess in fire-ravaged areas like Colorado and Utah, perhaps that's a real incentive. But everywhere else? Will they always still shoot flaming stuff up into the sky on the fourth? In 50 years will songs written in this and an earlier era about fireworks and the July 4th holiday not make any sense to people? Things I ponder in life.

Then we watched the USA's official show since it was weather delayed. 

In DC, they had to evacuate the National Mall because of storms (like we had, only it got over there an hour or so later) and I guess it was a bit of a shit show. The current POTUS (shan't speak of him much) did a big speech and presentation that I think I really would have liked if someone else did it. And yeah, go ahead and say "Oh Chris, he can't do anything right can he? You'd dislike him if he handed you a beautiful basket of puppies," and yes I would. 

The puppies would probably look good on the surface but have worms or something. 

Anyway, I went to bed after he brought out the Artemis II crew, I couldn't listen any more. Doug said I made a mistake - the fireworks show was impressive and super weird. 

Most fireworks shows have a band playing the USA hits by Sousa. This musical offering was singers and a rock band (all from the military branches) performing what he called "no songs you don't know!" like Don't Stop Believin' and Sweet Caroline, and weirdly 25 or 6 to 4... which he thinks was picked for 250, 25....0h... six to ... Maybe. But a super weird option. 

I heard him laughing his ass off, and thought he was laughing at the pre-fireworks presentation but. No. He said he called me to come down but didn't make a big effort to disturb me. I fell asleep pretty quickly in my POTUS and Fireworks free zone. 

Sunday morning I woke up kind of early, didn't do much. The new meds do indeed make me sleepy and I dozed on the couch. I thought maybe we'd go out somewhere but that didn't materialize. I went out and watered the garden because the forecast was for storms south of us. We got hammered about a half hour later. Ope. Poor plants but... yay water? 

I went on the treadmill when Doug took a nap, and pushed myself to keep going past the half hour I usually do, to log a 5k effort. 

Last night I had a dream where a comedian I like was yelling at me that running 5k on a treadmill is NOTHING like running a 5k out in the world. NOTHING! He kept insisting and yelling at me. I won't link to his profile or anything but it was such a random weird thing to have this guy's face and voice in my head giving me shit. 

Dream comedian is probably right, I should really try and do this out there in the world but until then, I need to build up my tolerance and my attention span again. 

My friend from town here that I met in the parks & rec challenge has been doing 2 or 3 5k races per week. PER WEEK. She did a bunch in the brutal heat, I couldn't even imagine. She also said to never do a color fun-run because your sweat turns the chalk into concrete on your body and in your hair, and it refuses to come out. 

She said she looks like a smurf. hilarious. 

Anyway, I'm publishing this on Monday having totally brain farted on doing it over the weekend. 

2 days of digits below, and here's the evidence of my efforts on the 5k front. 

Saturday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill run, 30 min/2 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 132
4:30pm: 134
11pm: 92

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance
10am: the new meds
10:30am: english muffin w/pb & low sugar jelly
1:15pm: roast beef, macaroni salad, met+glip
6pm: cheeseburger over mixed green salad w/cherry tomatoes, deviled egg potato salad
white wine

Sunday digits

exercise: 10/12 hours, slept through 9am and somehow missed 4pm? Ran 5k on the treadmill (getting back to it) 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 116
5pm: 91
10:45pm: 220 (see dinner+after dinner)

food & meds:

8am: jardiance, new meds
2pm: tuna salad on 647 white bread toasted w/iceberg lettuce and slab of tomato; met+glp
6pm: 2 big slices of buffalo chicken pizza
7pm met+glip
8pm: big handful of M&Ms (to get the bag out of the kitchen) 
no alcohol

Hey Baby it's the third of july

(forgot to hit submit last night!!!)

Today's title is an homage to Robert Ear Keen's song Fourth of July, but ... it isn't yet. Still, it gets in my head every time this part of the year rolls around. 

This morning I woke up at 7, and was surprised to have gone the whole way through the night without waking up. Toffee didn't follow me downstairs expecting breakfast, so I went back up and got back in bed. 7am on an observed holiday, no. I'm not up for the day. 

Next thing I knew it was well after 10, I figured eh... I'll just rest my eyes for another couple minutes and get up. And then it was 11:30. 

Must have needed it, I guess. 

I came downstairs and Doug was listening to John Philip Sousa songs on Spotify. "Best time of year to listen to Sousa," he says to me. I've always liked Sousa, reminds me of high school marching band. He said a lot of people dislike Sousa because of how the military has used/co-opted his songs for their purposes. I never really thought of it that way, and I can't hold it against him when the Liberty Bell is Monty Python's theme song. To me, that would be the redeeming connection. Screw the military, long live the "IT'S" man at the beginning of each episode as the song starts. 

I checked the helpdesk, looked at the tickets, groaned. I'm not working today. I did get a direct email from a client who said other clients are unable to find and pull his content into their version of the application, but I think they just don't know how to do it. 

One of the big things I need to do is write up instructions on how to do this. It is the exact same process as the old application but I'm surprised to see how many people just do not know how to do the process. Maybe I'll do that at some point this weekend. Lord knows I'm not going outside. 

We had a lazy day. Doug went out to weed a little bit and came back inside after 20 minutes and took a big nap. I hit the treadmill. 

We had discussed going up to the park for the fireworks, but realized... hey. Maybe we can just see them from our yard. Turns out you can. Our entire street was full of families having parties and cook outs, and local fireworks for about an hour before the big show. 

The view was great. No camera photos, because my phone camera sucks. But we enjoyed it greatly. I guess tomorrow night there are fireworks downtown at the baseball field. Maybe we'll go to town if our fave foodrinkery is open? 

Who knows. Maybe we'll just chillax here for another day. 

Digits below a picture of my dog who absolutely is unbothered by explosions. 

digits

exercise: 10/12 hours.  Missed 9 and 10am, slept in. Treadmill, 30 min/1.84 mi. a couple small measurable walks around the house and yard. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

11:30am: 165
5:30pm: 150
11pm: 190

food & meds:

11:30am: jardiance
11am: coffee w/Atkins chocolate shake mixed in
3:15pm: met+glip
3:45pm: roast beef & gouda on 647 white bread
6pm: 2 bratwurst & a bunch of macaroni salad; beer. Last of the M&M cookies
9:30pm: met+glip
a couple more fireworks watchin' beers

non-entry

Just entering the digits after a long and semi-frustrating day but a 2 hour yap with Linz at the end of the day made me happy. 

digits below. more interesting entry tomorrow, maybe. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. treadmill run, 20 min/1.35 mi; end of day 10 min walk/.45 mi; 11k+ steps by bedtime 

blood glucose:

7:30am: 83
4:45pm: 94
11pm: 185

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance (stopping phentermine, starting new meds soon)
8am: M&M cookie
12:30pm: turkey and swiss on 647 white bread; met+glip
6:15pm: small bowl of left over baked ziti; white wine
7pm: met+glip; another M&M cookie; more white wine

Baked Potato Baked Cookies

10pm and I am finishing for the day. I find that during the morning my brain doesn't kick into high gear until maybe 11am, noon. By 2 pm I am firing on every cylinder and if I don't have to cook dinner, I'm full on with it for hours and hours. Today I took a break and did the treadmill for a bit, and came back to do things. 

I also find in the evenings there are no meetings and no interruptions, so I can actually focus. I have to submit tickets to the devs when I can't fix something, which means I have to log into their system, while i'm in my system, and copy/paste things from me to them to submit them. And it can be confusing and messy. 

So it feels good to get to the end of a day and close the laptop. Unless I have an entry to catch up on. Like tonight. 

I don't just work work work, I do take breaks. You know I need to do steps, and sometimes I do steps while I bake cookies too. I have been threatening to make Pan Banging cookies for Geoff, and today he left super early for school orientation. So I woke up and puttered around and made cookie dough. 

That lil'baked potato in action... Toffee wanted to go out so I went with her and it was so incredibly hot. I thought about watering the garden but opted instead to go back in. 

I've had dogs who have loved to be outside in the absolute freezing cold. Toffee just wants to be outside in the heat. She spreads out like a pancake and just soaks in the sun. She then totally ignores me when I try to call her in. I spend a few minutes working, then go check her, then work, then check. If I'm in a meeting sometimes I walk around the house with my camera off, carrying the computer, and I check her. 

Gets me some extra steps. Eventually she comes in, but it's a little hassle to deal with her hot nonsense. 

I baked the cookies from the dough I made right before Geoff got home so it was a treat for him.

This recipe calls for making dough balls and chilling them, so I can do this all in stages and it works out. Make dough, do work. Make balls to chill, do work. Bake cookies, do work while cookies bake. 

I realized my large ice cream scoop that I use for these big cookies is broken so I ordered a new one, and made as well good as I could with this one and a small spatula.

They are beauties when they come out.

At about 7:30pm, I went out and watered the garden. Doug went to the gas station and got oil for the Mini. Toffee came out with me and watched. She hates to have the hose squirted at her, but you'd think that'd feel nice on a super duper hot day. 

I was roasting hot, so hot. I need to do some weeding, and I'm looking forward to this time next week when the temps will drop into the lower 80s. I'll head out then and get them weeds. 

Digits down below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 20 min/1.24 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 135
4:15pm: 237
11pm: 116

food & meds:

9am: jardiance + phentermine
12:30pm: big bowl of BLT salad
1pm: met+glip
7pm: small bowl of baked ziti w/ricotta, mushrooms, ground beef; met+glip
white wine